Kingdom Hearts III: The Beginning
by Micro Magic
Summary: Sarox, Sora and Kairi's son, goes on a journey of his own as he becomes the next wielder of the Keyblade.
1. Chapter 1

KINGDOM HEARTS III – DESTINY ISLANDS (THE BEGINNING)

"Wake up, Sarox," a voice called, "Open your eyes and wake up."

I tried to open my eyes, but a mystical force kept them closed. I remember where I was before I closed my eyes though. I was heading home. But then, I felt something rush into my head and all my senses were pulled away from my surroundings. Gone into a big, dark void. I felt how my whole body lost touch to the ground and kept falling, falling…

When I finally regained my senses, I was able to open my eyes again. I was still falling, but the fall had somehow softened as if I was close to landing, if there was any ground at all. My body turned downward and then I felt my feet meet a hard object, and that was when I realized that I had landed. Wherever that was.

"_Where am I?"_ I thought to myself. _"What is this place?"_

I should be scared of all the darkness, but somehow, I just felt safe. I wanted to explore the place, so I stumble one step from its spot. Suddenly, the spot I stepped on emitted in a strong blinding radiance and spread out like a circle around me. I shielded my eyes from the strange light. When I open them again, the ground I was standing on had turned into a gigantic circle of glass that looked like a mouth that could've swallowed me whole and still wouldn't be enough. It had the image of a black haired girl in an orange outfit. I didn't know who she was, but she looked like someone I know.

_Don't be afraid._

I looked around to see where that voice came from. Yeah, I definitely heard someone said "Don't be afraid," but… I didn't hear any voice. What was that? Was it someone who spoke to me in my head?

_You inherit the power of light in your heart. It will serve as your guidance when the time is right._

"Who's there," I yelled.

There was no answer. I could only think to myself.

"_Am I going crazy?"_

Then there it was again.

_Come to the center._

I felt as if something was waiting for me. Should I be scared?

No, I'm going to be brave.

I went to the center like the voice had told me. It wasn't until a few seconds later that I saw three objects appear around me like a triangle. They were about ten feet from where I was standing. I could see clearly that they were a sword with a golden handle, a blue magic staff that I found familiar from reading in picture books, and a red shield with three circle connected to each other in the center.

_Now, choose. One weapon will be your strength. But remember, you may only choose one. Choose wisely._

I looked at the shield. It looked kinda funny. I could tell it was made of hard steel, it would be pretty unbreakable if I were to use it for protection. Then, I turned my attention to the magic staff. There were sparkles floating around it. Of course I liked magic. My father had told me stories about his adventures with a magician. It could be pretty cool to use a magic staff for a weapon. I walked closer to the staff. The sparkles were real pretty, I couldn't get my eyes off them. I was about to reach out to grab it. I wanted to use magic. I reached out. But then, I felt my heart pound and I stopped. It was telling me to think wise. I realized then that were was one last weapon for me to observe before I could decide, so I turned to the sword. Its blade emitted a shine of pure power. Just by looking at it I could feel a mystical strength flush over me. I walked closer toward it. I could tell it was made specifically for a warrior, and only a warrior would be able to wield it naturally. I'm no warrior. Not with my poor fencing skills. But when I looked into the sword, I could feel a strength that I've never had before.

I reached out to it, this time my heart didn't pound. The magic staff could not compare to the sword's power. I grabbed the handle.

_You have taken the sword of a warrior. A weapon of courage and strength. Is this the weapon that you choose?_

I took a moment to think, then made up my mind.

"Yes," I responded with my voice.

_Very well. The Strength of a Warrior will become yours._

The sword glowed in my hand like I was becoming one with it.

_You will go through many trials to prove your worth of this power. But do not be frightened. As long as you follow your heart, your weapon will always be by your side._

"_What is this voice?"_ I thought to myself. _"Why did you make me choose a weapon? Where am I?"_

So many questions. I wanted answers.

Before I knew it, a light appeared behind me. It was so thick that it could almost swallow me whole. When I turned around to see what it was, it turned out to be a pink ruby door that leads to nowhere. The handles were made of silver and the door was covered with red, blue, and white diamonds.

_Go through the door. Your journey begins…_

Journey? What journey?

I felt how a small amount of frustrating wash over my body, the heat was vague, but I could feel it. Why do I have to do as you say? Who are you in the first place?

I took little time to calm down and refresh my mind and realized that if I want to get out of here, at least this spot, I'll have to go through the door. So I walked closer toward it with the sword in my hand, my heart beats faster by every step I take.

"_Will I get out of here?"_

I placed my hands on the handles, but it took a few seconds to work up my courage. When I thought I was ready, I opened up…


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

"Sarox," I could hear a familiar voice, "are you okay?"

Yeah, that was definitely someone I know. My consciousness was weak at that moment, so weak that I couldn't bear to open my eyes, but I could hear it. When my senses finally regained enough strength, I opened my eyes and saw Marlene standing over me.

"Are you okay, Sarox," she asked, although I was still feeling a little woozy.

"Wha-what happened," I asked.

"I don't know,you just passed out" she answered.

"_What happened?"_ I kept asking myself that. What was that place, what was that _thing_? Perhaps it was just a dream. I mean, what kind of place would so dark and mysterious?

I thought about it a long time along the way and when I couldn't think of anything relevant, I finally decided to ignore it.

"Hey, you feel like going to the island tomorrow after school," Marlene asked.

"Sure," I answered immediately.

Marlene had been my best friend ever since we were very young. She and I were both born on Destiny Islands. When I first met her, we were on our first day at school, she was six years old and I was seven. I remember being really nervous when the teacher called for me to come up and introduce myself to my fellow classmates, I almost couldn't say a word so I only said one phrase:

"_Hello!"_

Marlene, though, you can't say the same about her. She had a brilliant smile and was really confident, or maybe she was just hiding her shy self behind that big smile because she had been as shy as I had been since that day. Her smile on that made her shining brown hair shine as bright as the sun. When I was on my way home, I saw her right beside the school gate bended down as if she was looking for something. I could see sadness emanating from her eyes so I approached to talk to her.

"_Hey, what's wrong?"_

She looked up to face me, and I could see water in her eyes. The confident smile that morning turned into a sad frown.

"_I dropped my pendant. My mom gave it to me."_

Marlene had dropped something really important, that I could see. I didn't want her to look sad, just smile as bright as always, but she couldn't do it with sadness getting in the way. I want it to go away. She looked away to find her lost pendant.

"_Why don't I help you look for it?"_

She looked at me again.

"_You will?"_

"_Of course."_

I stirred my eyes at my surroundings. My senses were all focused on my sight, I couldn't hear, couldn't smell, only see. Something blinked for a moment in some bushes about ten feet away from us.

"I'm really lucky to have you for a friend, Sarox," she said.

It kinda surprised me to hear her say that. All I could say back was: "Huh?"

"Hi hi," she giggled, "just kidding you."

"_Just kidding"_, I repeated it in my mind.

No, that won't do.

Of course I am grateful that she is my friend, but… sometimes I wish we were more. I wanted to tell her how I feel, but I just couldn't bring myself to it.

We just walked quietly.

We reached Marlene's home and said our goodbyes. I kept thinking about that place on my way home. It's probably nothing. I mean, anybody could have weird dreams, right?

But I just couldn't let it go.

"I'm home," I called as soon as I came home.

There was a noise of grilling in the kitchen, so I knew that my mom was home.

"Hi, Sarox," she replied from the kitchen. "Did you have a good day?"

I couldn't wait to tell her what happened today.

"Yeah," I answered.

I was about to go into the kitchen to tell her about the blitzball game, but then I saw someone coming out from the living room and my attention was completely changed.

"_Dad_," I called. Excitement came up my throat.

"Hi, boy," he said.

Excitement and happiness came over me, I could feel how my heart was jumping toward him and I ran forth. He opened his arms just in time for me to crash into his embrace.

"He he he," he laughed loudly.

"You just have to do that everytime you see your old man, huh."

"Oh, come on, dad," I said, "you've been gone for a week. A hug is my way of saying "Welcome home"."

"Sora, can you help me, please" my mom called from the kitchen.

Dad removed his arms around me.

"Okay," he replied and then turned his attention back to me, "we'll talk later."

He went straight into the kitchen to help mom. They have been madly in love with each other since they were kids, several years before I came to be. I was born shortly after they got married and dad started making his delivery business. Unfortunately the job involves a lot of traveling, and he always has to leave town to deliver our villagers' stuff to other towns. Too bad Uncle Riku's left the islands; whenever dad was out on business he would always stop by to play with me, and talk to mom after dinner. He moved away last year without saying where he was going. I still remember my mom and dad's faces when they saw him off. They were smiling, but I could tell that there was at least a small amount of sadness hidden beneath their smiling faces. Uncle Riku had been friends with my parents since they were little kids. Sometimes, I would tell my dad how much I miss him and he would say "I know how you feel". Of course, I got used to him not living here anymore. But I still miss him at times. I don't miss him now though.

"Sarox, dinner ready in fifteen minutes," mom called from the kitchen.

"Okay," I said.

"Hey, Sarox," my dad said, "after dinner, I'll take you on a ball game."

"All right."

I ran up to my room to change my clothes and get ready for dinner.

After the "delicious dinner" – which dad kept saying to mom – he took me out to the garden where we could play balls. We decided to make him the guard of the net, and I was made the shooter.

"Okay, let's see if you have been practicing while I was gone," he said.

I kicked the ball with much strength focused on my foot, aiming for the net. I felt the power give me strength and I was sure that the ball would reach the net. Then, a large powerful hand lifted from below and caught it without as much as benting backward.

"You've gotten better," he said proudly.

"I'm not as good as you, dad," I remarked and it was true. He had always been better than me at sports. Even today.

"Don't be so down. Someday you'll be as good as I am, maybe even better than me. You gotta have faith in yourself, that's how I made it through my years."

What he said struck me with a slim curiosity, and I had ask:

"Dad, you've never really told me much about your journey. Where have you been to?"

"Well, like your mother always says, there are things that you need to discover on your own."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"It means this conversation is over," he said and brushed off into the house.

I could feel the frustration wash over my head.

He never told me anything about his journeys, not once. Well, maybe once, but mom stopped him before he could outmouth a single detail. I was getting ready for bed that night, like always. Dad read me stories about a young boy traveling the universe, searching for what he may not be able to find. That story always appealed to me, as though I could relate to the boy in it. He traveled across the worlds to find what he is lacking. He was lacking closeness, while I was lacking confidence to be strong.

"Dad, why does he lack closeness?" I asked after he stuffed me in bed and finished reading the story.

"Well, you see, traveling the world is a good thing," he began. "But when you travel alone, you enjoy it for a while. It's peaceful and fun. You have nothing but the time of the world in your hand. But then you start to get lonely."

"Why?"

"Because the most beautiful things in the world mean nothing if you don't have someone to share. Your Uncle Riku took that road when he was my age and became incredibly lonely after some time."

"Did he join you afterwards?"

"No, not directly. But we came home together. And we met some really good friends on the way. We even fought…"

"Honey!" mom called.

She was standing right outside my bedroom door, so I supposed she did that with intention.

"Don't you have a delivery tomorrow? You don't wanna look like a slacker when you leave tomorrow, do you?"

Dad didn't look happy, but his face was also made clear to me that he wasn't angry.

"All right, I'll come soon," he answered. This time, his voice lowered. He turned his attention back to me. "All right, go to sleep. You've got school tomorrow."

"Good night, dad," I said.

"Good night."

"Good night, honey," mom said from the hallway.

"Good night, mom."

Dad then shut the light to let the darkness induce me with a temporary slumber. After five minutes in silence, I was carried into the dark.

He was close to telling me, but mom stopped him. We haven't spoken about it since then. I never knew why, and maybe I didn't want to know either. Somehow their in-between mystery gave me a direct warning: that it was not something for me to know. _Perhaps I should just let it go_, I always thought. But even if I tried to ignore my curiosity, it always got to me. I wanted to know what mom and dad were hiding. "The last thing you'd expect is for your parents to hide things from you," one of my classmates said, when he discovered that his mother was hiding a secret. He was really upset when he found out, wouldn't talk to his mom for days.

I wondered, will I turn out like him too?


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

I walked Marlene home after a long day at school.

"Ugh, can't believe coach made us do fifty lifts," I complained while stretching my body in exhaustion.

Today's academics was not the funniest. Coach had us boys do fifty and then jump into the water right afterwards. We didn't even have time to rest. He gave us a direct order to work on our blitzball skills. My muscles were close to collapsing if academics had gone on longer.

"_Coach is crazy,"_ said one of my fellow students.

The painful workout made many of us complain.

"_This is too much. I will not be taken to this abuse."_

"_Give me freedom!"_

"_Just let me off the hook! I don't care if it's gonna be on my grades, I just wanna rest."_

Difficult. Painful. The coach ignored our complains.

"_Don't be such a whiner and get back to your workout."_

They complained on their loudest tones, but the coach kept ignoring them. I knew my complains would only be unreachable to him, so I could only ignore the difficulties and do as I was told. Anything to get the day over with.

Marlene looked over my sore shoulder as I stretched.

"Did you blow the steam off the coach?" she jokingly asked.

"No, he was already blowing off steam," I answered jokingly. "I was just one of the victims of his wrath."

She laughed at my little joke.

"He was probably in a bad mood."

"Like he always does when he puts us through the sorrow of his wrath."

There was nothing funny about it, yet she bursted into louder laughs like I made a really good crack out of it, and a moment later, a blissful laugh came up my throat as if her laughter was contagious. All that burden was suddenly lifted from my shoulders.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow then," Marlene said after we reached her home.

"Y-yeah!" I replied with a wave of hand.

She turned toward the door. Once she was inside, she gave me one last glance before gently closing the door behind her. I guess you could say it's nothing special, because we can always see each other, but… I just felt anxious to depart from her. There was nothing sorrowful about not seeing her, but every time I saw her at school, I sort of wished we could see each other more often. Hope that the day would never end. Her smile was enchanting to me; as if the whole universe has only one hold on me, it bended me, my eyes were on that person only. Aside from my family, she's above everything else that was precious to me. And our friendship was mutual: Marlene was my number-one friend.

The road home wouldn't take long, but I didn't want to go home yet. Suddenly, I felt the urge of going to the beach, it didn't have to take much time, just for a little while.

I followed the path until I reached the horizon. The sunlight was warming, equalled by the gentle breeze that sooths the heat covering my body. Colors of the orange sky above the Small Island lit up the horizontal area, even the waves looked beautiful. The sound of the waves came toward me with the wind. I closed my eyes, focused on feeling the breeze and hearing the waves.

"_Figured you might come here."_

The familiar voice grabbed my attention from the waves. I turned to the direction where the voice came from, and there was my father, looking far out to the little island that he used take me to when I was younger. After I turned ten, we stopped visiting that island, but Sora still liked to look at it from the beach. My mother Kairi liked to look at it from here too. They said that the island carried most of their happy memories, and those memories had become part of themselves. I wonder, did my memories begin from there too? My parents told me that it was the first place they brought me to after I was born. I was only seven days old then.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Just had a feeling of coming down here," he asnwered simply. "And somehow I figured you would come too."

"Why is that?"

"Because this is where we always come to when we want to watch the island."

I looked at the island again. _Yeah, he was right. _Every time I came, I wanted to see the island. The gleaming shine of the sun made it look like a gigantic diamond that emitted a soothing aura that causes my tensions and frustrations to fade away. It had a life of its own.

"Dad," I started after our long moment of silence. "You're right."

He looked at me with his kind and simple blue-colored eyes. _My_ eyes.

"Let's go home, I think your mom is gonna worry if we don't get home sooner."

I nodded in agreement. Yes, mom and dad were always secretive about their teenage years and their journeys. Every time I asked them about it, they just shoved me off. Though it was really frustrating to be kept in the dark sometimes, I felt in my heart that I was surrounded by their love, and I was giving them the same. We began to turn back toward the village and head home.

"First at the door gets a kiss from Mom, Dad," I exclaimed and sprinted toward the road. I wanted to fire him up and feel the excitement of racing, like we always did.

"Huh? Hey!" I heard him call after me as we rushed. I didn't turn around to look, but his footsteps were loud enough to alert me that he wasn't far behind.

* * *

In another world, Sora's best friend and Sarox' godfather, Riku and the white duck, Donald Duck, headed into the throne room where they were waited by a little mouse named Mickey Mouse, ruler of the Disney Castle; and Goofy, captain of the Royal Knights. Riku and Donald bowed in front of him in royal respect to the mouse king.

"Your Majesty, what brings the occasion?" Donald asked.

"Donald, Riku," the king replied. "Something has happened to the worlds. Something terrible."

Riku is the first to look up. He had already noticed the worry in his tone.

"Mickey, what's going on?"

"I don't know, but I sense a great darkness approaching. It's much greater than the ones we've faced before, and I'm afraid we won't have enough power to stop it."

Donald looked up in shock.

"Huh? But Your Majesty, what're we going to do then?"

"We fight," Riku replied. His voice was overflowed with courage and confidence.

"Fight we shall, my friend," the king pointed. "But to do it, we need more than just our collective power. The darkness I sense is much vaster, much deeper than we've ever encountered. The only possible way for us to win is to awake those hearts that're still asleep in the scattered worlds."

Donald didn't bench his worried heart.

"How do we do that, Your Majesty?"

Mickey's face lightened up by an inch as he thought of the solution to Donald's trouble.

"The Keyblade is our hope."

_The Keyblade_, Riku thought. He held out his arm and summoned his Keyblade; _"Way to the Dawn"_, a weapon that stood for light and darkness combined. Then, King Mickey held out his arm in unison and summoned his Star Seeker Keyblade.

"Those hearts connected to the Keyblade is our hope," the king added. "But you see, each world has at least one special guardian. And each of those guardians holds the potential to use the Keyblade. Just like me and you, Riku. And of course, Sora, too."

"Sora," he mumbled.

"Unfortunately, the worlds need their guardians right now, and we can't leave them unprotected. That's why I can't leave the castle and neither can Sora leave his world."

Riku looked down on the ground as he thought of Sora, his best friend, and a master of the Keyblade. With his homeworld needing to be guarded, Sora could not leave to battle the swarming dark force. If Sora couldn't do it then he must take up the role of superhero and rescue the universe once more.

"I'll go," he said. "I'll fight."

"_No_," the king replied immediately. He jumped down from his throne to approach Riku. "There's another place that needs you more."

"But…" Riku began to argue.

Goofy stepped forward and interrupted the conversation. His cheerful smile made Riku realize that he was the only one in the room who was wearing a happy face since they entered.

"Riku, what His Majesty is requesting is for you to go to Radiant Garden and help Leon guard the Final Keyhole located in the castle's basement. He worries that whatever darkness is beckoning might be related to that place."

Goofy's interpretation slowed him down.

"But Your Majesty," Donald began. "If we stay behind, then who will stop the darkness?"

"Don't worry," he replied quickly, cheerful as always. "I know I have just the right person to do it."

In an instant, he turned his attention to Goofy who was standing right next to him.

"Goofy, I need you to send your son to the Gummi Hangar right away."

"Max?" he wondered.

"M-hmm."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

He turned to Donald.

"And Donald, I need you to send your apprentice to the Gummi Hangar right away too."

Donald bowed to his king.

"Yes, Your Majesty. – C'mon, Goofy."

Donald turned around and began to sprint toward the exit with Goofy closely behind him, leaving only behind Riku and King Mickey.


End file.
